Richmond FC Tasmania Finally Breaks Five-Year Drought

The Drought is Over

You’d have to have a heart of stone not to get a bit emotional watching Richmond FC Tasmania celebrate their first win since 2019. Seven years is a bloody long time in footy, and for the loyal supporters who’ve stuck fat through every heartbreak, every last-minute loss, and every “maybe this week” that turned into another defeat — this one’s for you.

The local Tassie outfit has been through the wringer, no doubt about it. While the big guns like Collingwood and Geelong Cats battle it out for premierships, Richmond FC has been fighting a different war — the battle to simply win a game of football. It’s the kind of struggle that tests every fibre of a club’s character, from the committee room to the changerooms.

The Long Road Back

Seven years without a win does things to a footy club that you can’t measure on a scoreboard. Players come and go, coaches try different systems, and supporters start looking at their membership renewals with a heavy heart. But there’s something about local footy that keeps people coming back — the community spirit, the tradition, the hope that this might be the year everything clicks.

Richmond’s journey through this drought has been a masterclass in resilience. They’ve copped plenty of floggings, sure, but they’ve also had those matches where they’ve given it a red-hot crack and fallen just short. Those near-misses hurt more than the blowouts sometimes, but they also showed the club had the bones of something decent.

Sweet Victory at Last

When that final siren went and Richmond had finally done it, you could feel the emotion wash over the ground. Players hugging, supporters in tears, committee members probably wondering if they were dreaming. It’s moments like these that remind you why we love this game — not just the AFL spectacle with its millions of dollars and prime-time slots, but the grassroots version where every win matters like a grand final.

The beauty of breaking a drought like this isn’t just about the points on the board. It’s about belief returning to a group that’s forgotten what winning feels like. It’s about young blokes who joined the club never having experienced victory finally understanding why their older teammates kept turning up every week.

With ANZAC Day approaching next week and the traditional clash between Essendon and Collingwood at the MCG, it’s worth remembering that every level of footy has its own special moment